Expert: Jack Toomey - 7/19/2004

Question
Hello Office Toomey,

I hope you can answer my question or if not, advise me  where to look up the anwer.  I've tried in vain searching under different VA state and county laws and police websites to no avail.

I live in Arlington County, Virginia in a condo building which has a private parking lot for residents and guests of residents only.   My question:  can a police officer enter the private condo parking lot and issue parking tickets or, are they prohibited from doing so unless called by buidling manager or a resident?  

The reason for my question is because there is a man who lives in the building who has proclaimed himself  the 'traffic cop' of the parking lot.  The police are well aware of him and one lieutenant I spoke with about him, stated outright that he is what they refer to as a 'nuisance complaint filer' - one of hundreds in Arlington County.  I am fully aware that the police are not permitted to disclose who called in a complaint when a resident of our condo buidling receives a ticket.  Nevertheless, the building management, the residents, and, as close as they could come without revealing his identity, even the police know he is responsible for drawing the police's attention to minor infractions.   ie, if a  vehicle's inspection expires on May 31, and a new inspection ticket is not in place as of midnight, June 1, the resident discovers he has been issued a ticket by the police.  ie, if, as in my own case, a resident inadvertantly forgets to display a handicapped placard one evening, while religiously doing so for 2 months because her handicapped mother is staying with her and everyone in the building is aware of it, I nonetheless received a $500 parking violation ticket.  (Thankfully, the police cancelled the ticket in full after receiving my letter, my mother's doctor's letter, and a copy of the HC placard).  

Because the police are not at liberty to reveal the  identity of the person who called in the violation, none of us can prove this guy is behind all the nuisance tickets.   When he makes a nuisance complaint to the Board of Directors however, he does reveal his identity.  (ie, a Jewish resident hung a very small mesuzach on the inside of his doorframe and and this guy complained to the Board - so they had to bring in the condo's attornery, etc etc etc and the association found his complaint invalid and discriminatory, etc, etc).  He harrassed residents on a regular basis.   Recently, the President of our Condo assn filed a complaint to the police and there is now a case file on him with the police - this was brought about because this guy was using binoculars to look in resident's windows (both from our parking lot and from a neighboring condo complex' parking lot) apparently to look for violations - the complaint filed was that he was engaged in 'peeping tom' activities.

The guy has been quietly harassing me for years, ie, making rude comments to me, and also gives himself away as the person who has called the police to report a nuisance parking violation (he can't seem to help himself gloating).  I've put up with it for years, and ignored him, because 1) I'm way too busy to put any energy into taking him on and 2) I'm a single female and he lives on my floor and he is mentally unbalanced and i do not care to put my life in jeopardy should he crack one day and go beyond the nuisance stuff.'

However, the last incident regarding the HC sign finally broke the camel's back because it involved the health and safety of my 86 year old mother.  While I realize (as do all the other residents and management of the building) that there is little we can do about him because he can legally report infractions, and, since the police issue tickets, he would be viewed as being legally correct.  

Nevertheless, I am seriously thinking about taking out an harrassment suit against him so he will leave me alone.  In order to prove he is the one who calls the police for tickets issued to me, I would have to file suit and subpeona police records.  Before I do this, I am trying to find out if the police can simply enter any Arlington County VA condominium private parking lot when they desire to do so, or must they be called by a resident or building manager before they are permitted to enter?   If they can enter at will, it would seem my complaint regarding him has less merit.

Can you please answer my question?  And, if you have any advise as to what I should do about this character, (realizing you are not an attorney), please let me know.

Thank you for your kind consideration,
Jeannie Wagner
703 685-2622

Answer
Hello Jeannie.

    I'm sorry but I have no idea what the laws are in Arlington County, VA however if the police are coming onto the condo property to issue tickets it would seem to me that they have the authority to do so whether they are summoned or not.

   My suggestion would be a simple phone call to the Arlington County Police Department.  I am sure that they would happy to answer your questions.